Over the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict, one of the media’s oft-repeated canards has been that Israel uses a “disproportionate” amount of force in response to violence and terrorism, with the emphasis generally placed on the disparate loss of life on both sides.
Given that the Gaza Strip is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas — designated as a terrorist group by many Western countries — and considering that the Palestinian Authority incentives attacks on Israelis through its “Pay-for-Slay” policy, that casualty figures reported by both Palestinian entities are disseminated by news outlets unquestionably raises serious ethical questions.
In doing so, media organizations have effectively obscured other important numbers that provide critical context and reinforce Israel’s ongoing commitment to minimizing casualties during defensive actions.
Since “numbers don’t lie,” below are some statistics:
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0 – According to an HonestReporting big data search of relevant news articles, the number of Palestinians killed in Jerusalem or the Gaza Strip during the mass rioting that took place prior to Hamas’ decision to initiate a war with Israel in which the Jewish state’s civilian population has been intentionally been targeted with rocket fire.
0 – The number of elections held across the West Bank and Gaza Strip since 2006, when Hamas won the most seats in the now-defunct Palestinian Legislative Council and subsequently ousted Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction from the coastal enclave in an internecine war.
2 – The number of former Israel Defense Soldiers — Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin — whose remains have been held by Hamas since they were killed in battle in Gaza during the 2014 war. Hamas is also holding captive two Israeli civilians, Avera Mangistu and Hisham al-Sayed
10+ – The number of times in less than a week that sirens have blared in the Tel Aviv area due to incoming rocket attacks.
15 – The estimated maximum number of seconds that Israelis living along the Gaza border have to rush to bomb shelters after they are alerted to inbound rockets.
16 – The number of years since Israel removed every man, woman, child and soldier from the Gaza Strip, only to have the territory consumed by Hamas and transformed into a forward-operating terrorist base.
19 – The number of years (1948-1967) that Jordan illegally occupied the eastern part of Jerusalem, during which the area was ethnically cleansed of Jews. During the intervening period, there were, by happenstance, few, if any, international calls for Amman to create a Palestinian state.
20 – The number of years that Palestinian terrorists have been firing projectiles at Israel from the Gaza Strip, with each and every intentional attack on civilians constituting a war crime.
20+ – Estimated hours per day over the past week that Israelis living close to the Gaza border have spent in bomb shelters.
600 – The conservative estimate of the number of of times rockets launched by Palestinian terrorists have misfired and landed in Gaza, causing mass civilian casualties.
800 – The estimated amount in dollars it costs to manufacture a Qassam rocket. The price of a coronavirus vaccine, by contrast, ranges from $3-$37 per jab. However, Israel was widely panned by the media for not providing the Palestinians, including those in the Gaza Strip, with sufficient inoculations.
3,000 – The estimated number of projectiles fired on Israeli civilians by Gaza-based terrorists since thecurrent conflict erupted last Monday. The number of United Nations resolutions condemning this: Zero.
30,000 – The total number of rockets in the hands of terrorists in Gaza, as estimated by The New York Times.
So, next time facts and figures are used in reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, media outlets should ensure that the above-mentioned statistics are not ignored.
